COTD #2: Misunderstood Individualism

clipped from esr.ibiblio.org collectivism is based on a misunderstood idea of individualism: of the individual conceived as standing alone, without any relations, like obligations, or other sorts of relations to other individuals. Collectivisms always visualize the individual as standing alone, with relations to no other but the state. Prediction 1: totalitarianisms always tried to strip people of such relations or personal obligations to other people, f.e. glorifying a student who betrayed his father to the state. Prediction 2: less-total (liberal) collectivisms tend to provide services to outcompete such personal obligations (such as caring for elderly parents, such as helping the poor in the local community, such as actively incentiving divorces via welfare schemes etc.), and are often even explicit about doing so: we take care people so that you can afford not to care and you can spend all your time on pursuing your own personal desires, without being hindered by obligations to other people.

Shenpen obviously wins commenter of the day.

COTD: Nothing Could Be More Un-Conservative

clipped from esr.ibiblio.org Where the problem is how to construct Mussolini right, because he have promised pretty much everything for everybody and the opposite of everything too. His history is a long Machiavellian maneouvering for power without sticking to any principles. “Everything I have said and done is these last years is relativism, by intuition. From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself his own ideology, and to attempt to enforce it with all the energy of which he is capable. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories, and men who claim to be the bearers of an objective immortal truth, then there is nothing more relativistic than fascism.” That’s probably as close to the real ideas of Mussolini as it gets. (And I need to add one thing: Fascism is often misconstructed as “radical Conservatism”. However, _nothing_ could be more un-Conservative, than the above quote.

Not One Dime

clipped from www.qando.net ‘Cap and Tax’ simply provides more opportunities for political favoritism — creating arbitrary credits to be awarded to pet projects while getting others to pay for the favors. Meanwhile the energy expense baseline of the entire economy goes up. Waxman-Markey are gushing about how historic this bill is. That it is — it puts Smoot-Hawley in second place as potentially the most misguided economic legislation of the last 100 years. Take the time to read Kling’s post as well. If you’re wondering who will be paying “for the favors”, Conor Clarke at the Atlantic has been kind enough to put that in chart form using the CBO’s data on tax distribution: But remember you 95% out there – your taxes won’t go up by a single dime – not one dime. Your fuel, electric, transportation, food and just about anything else you can imagine? Dimes won’t even begin to describe the increases you’ll see.

They Can't Protest If They're Dead

clipped from www.iranpressnews.com

OChavez In Honduras

clipped from hotair.com Read Fausta’s amazing round-up of what happened here. In a nutshell, Zelaya wanted another term as president so he decided to hold a popular referendum on whether he should be eligible. Minor problem: The Honduran constitution can’t be amended by popular referendum so the country’s supreme court ordered the vote canceled. Zelaya tried to go ahead with it anyway. Literally every other arm of the Honduran government — judiciary, legislature, military — was against him, to the point where the troops who arrested him this morning were evidently acting on a court order. Why such strong, unified opposition? According to one retired Honduran general cited by Fausta, it’s because Zelaya’s a Chavez stooge and him staying on would mean “Chavez would eventually be running Honduras by proxy.” Two questions, then. One: In their rush to drool all over themselves about “the rule of law,” do Obama and Hillary realize that it’s Zelaya who was flouting the rule of law here?

No Sh*t Warren

clipped from ace.mu.nu "it's a huge tax and there's no sense calling it anything else. I mean, it is a tax. So it -- and it's a fairly regressive tax." Well no shit Warren. In same, David Axelrod explains lies about how this increase does not affect the poor. Because they'll pay less for energy or some nonsense, dissembling and ignoring the fact that we all pay x for a kilowatt and y for a gallon, promising they'll get help with their energy bill.

Our Fools

clipped from www.davidwarrenonline.com Today's column is not about Iran, but I mention the country because we watch from a distance. That is what makes smugness possible. Nothing as horrible as what happens there has yet happened here. We feel secretly superior to people who've had to face circumstances we cannot imagine. I remember the outrage of a Czech exile, a generation ago (before the Communists had fallen), receiving an uptight, self-righteous lecture from a shallow Canadian acquaintance. The latter said the enslaved Czechs should be blamed for co-operating with their Communist masters. Why didn't they just refuse to obey orders? He was speaking to a man who had spent 12 years in labour camps for disobeying orders. Yet that was beside the point. The Canadian was speaking about things beyond his comprehension. My Czech friend, who had turned almost purple from his effort to contain himself, said only: "You are a fool." His Canadian interlocutor walked off, looking even more pleased with himself than usual.

Free Iran!

clipped from esr.ibiblio.org I am, as of now, DONE with people who say we shouldn’t “impose American values” or “promote democracy” in the Middle East. They are morally bankrupt. As of 24 June 2009 they have slip-slid into the category of apologists for genocide. To know of this degree of radical evil, and have the power to act against it but fail to do so, is to become accomplice to the evil. The time for the overthrow of the Iranian regime, by any feasible means up to and including full-scale war, has come. Free Iran!

But of course we don't need to invade. A gasoline importation embargo would be all that's required as was pointed out by this interview.

But of course the Mullahs would attack anything and everything as it took hold so full-scale war it would be. The only good news is that there's some chance it wouldn't be a nuclear one.

But if you think we can let things go much longer and keep the nutjobs from getting nukes and then using them, I'll use Eric's idiom: You're an idiot.

And if you read the comments on Eric's post you'll find a huge representation of idiots. Well, except for the Iranians of course.

Tilting

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com The Spanish professor is puzzled. Why, Gabriel Calzada wonders, is the U.S. president recommending that America emulate the Spanish model for creating "green jobs" in "alternative energy" even though Spain's unemployment rate is 18.1 percent -- more than double the European Union average -- partly because of spending on such jobs? Calzada says Spain's torrential spending -- no other nation has so aggressively supported production of electricity from renewable sources -- on wind farms and other forms of alternative energy has indeed created jobs. But Calzada's report concludes that they often are temporary and have received $752,000 to $800,000 each in subsidies -- wind industry jobs cost even more, $1.4 million each. And each new job entails the loss of 2.2 other jobs Windmills are iconic in the land of Don Quixote, whose tilting at them became emblematic of comic futility. Spain's new windmills are neither amusing nor emblematic of policies America should emulate.

This Is Genocide, This Is Hitler

clipped from www.youtube.com

Another miracle from CNN. They actually have another interview that isn't craven Khameini Kool-aid. Listen only if you have a strong stomach.

The "Green" Future

clipped from proteinwisdom.com I’m 55, my late grandparents born in the infant years of the 1900’s and my parents growing up during the Depression. It wasn’t that long ago I participated in a management training class and used as an example of frugality the practice of “darning” and almost half the class had no clue what I was talking about. Look. Look close at the picture to the right. That is the picture of an American who had only a small carbon footprint upon the American land. Women didn’t work outside the home because they were discriminated against but household duties were full time. Electricity was limited so no washing machines or dryers. No refrigerators. Look at the woman at right — she is 32 years old in that picture. If nothing else, the Democrats hysterical rush to return to the artificially prolonged era that produced her should give most American women pause. Is this the “green” future they really want to return to?

The Guards Of Fascism

clipped from www.thedailybeast.com There are many different ways to look at the developments in Iran. One perspective that seems to have been ignored is what I regard as the cardinal role of the Revolutionary Guards. Over the twenty years that Ayatollah Khamenei has been the rahbar or leader, he has allied himself ever more closely with the Revolutionary Guards—to such an extent that it is no longer apparent to me who is leading and who is following. The Revolutionary Guards have been granted extraordinary influence over all functions of the Islamic Republic—military, political, economic and even Islamic. Technically, they take their orders from the leader, but has he ever dared to contradict them? On the contrary, he seems always to court them by granting them ever-greater influence and responsibilities. This is a formula for the kind of a militarized and nationalist corporate state under a single controlling ideology that is not dissimilar to fascist rule in an earlier day.

Rubes

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com In five short months, it's become a tradition: you have to watch the news wires carefully on Friday evening, because that's when the Obama administration announces or leaks actions or decisions that they want to stay under the radar. Last night, it came out that the administration is considering an executive order to detain some of the Guantanamo inmates indefinitely: The Obama administration is considering issuing an executive order that would allow the government to indefinitely detain some of the prisoners now at Guantanamo Bay, according to published reports on Friday evening.

Progressive Disaster

clipped from online.wsj.com President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It's hard to miss the irony that he's pitching this change in Washington even as the same governance model is imploding in three of the largest American states where it has been dominant for years -- California, New Jersey and New York. Soak the rich. Mr. Obama plans to pay for his government investments through higher tax rates on the top 1% and 2% of taxpayers. Instead of balanced budgets, these high taxes have produced record red ink. California's deficit for 2010 is projected at $33.9 billion, New Jersey's $7 billion and New York's $17.9 billion, despite multiple tax increases this decade. The Manhattan Institute finds that three-quarters of the loss in revenues this year in Albany is a result of reduced income tax payments by rich people even though the state keeps raising taxes on high earners.

Punishment

clipped from pajamasmedia.com MICKEY KAUS: “The U.A.W., now a major GM shareholder, has delivered its final punishment to those auto workers who dared move to Spring Hill, Tennessee and show up the rest of the union by building reliable car without Wagner-style work rules. GM’s new small car will be made in Michigan, and the Spring Hill plant will close. …. P.S.: Nikke Finke has a better chance of making money producing this car than GM does.”

Poorly

clipped from business.theatlantic.com The Obama Administration appears to me to be pursuing many goals, poorly. Here are four: 1) The stimulus failed to meet Larry Summers' famous criteria of timely, targeted, or temporary. 2) The cap and trade legislation maximizes rent-seeking (favoritism toward particular businesses) and minimizes carbon reduction. 3) The proposed financial reforms are mostly cosmetic and fail to address the key issues of housing policy and regulatory capital arbitrage. 4) In championing health care reform, the President stresses the unsustainability of our current system, while insisting that nothing will change (you can keep your insurance, keep your doctor, etc.). The pattern that I see is one of following the path of least political resistance, even if it means failing to make any significant contribution to solving the actual public policy problem. I cannot say that I am completely shocked by this. It is sort of Public Choice 101.

Neda And The Freak Show

clipped from canadafreepress.com For previous generations, the question:  “Where were you when Kennedy was shot” has served as a conversation starter as well as a catalyst for exploration of a shared history.  It would seem that the quintessential question will soon be:  “where were you when you found out Michael Jackson was dead?”? You know what would be really shocking?  Michael Jackson dying at the age of 87.  That would have been a real stunner, well deserving of the nauseating nonstop narration that should be reserved for heads of state. Which is why the interest in the life and death of Neda Agah-Soltan was so facilely dwarfed by the opulent freak show that surrounds Michael Jackson.

Inevitability

clipped from mises.org According to my grandfather, as told to me around 1910, Carl Menger had made the following remarks: The policies being pursued by the European powers will lead to a terrible war ending with gruesome revolutions, the extinction of European culture and destruction of prosperity for people of all nations. In anticipation of these inevitable events, all that can be recommended are investments in gold hoards and the securities of the two Scandinavian countries. $15 $11 Menger's savings, in fact, were invested in Swedish securities. One who so clearly foresees disaster and the destruction of everything he deems valuable before his fortieth year cannot avoid pessimism and depression. Ancient rhetoricians were careful to consider the kind of life King Priam would have had, had he at the age of twenty already foreseen the fall of Ilium![5] Carl Menger barely had the first half of his life behind him when he recognized the inevitability of the demise of his own Troy.

Just Hang Up

clipped from www.youtube.com

Cellphone Technology

clipped from www.davidwarrenonline.com Knowledge is not power in any proximate sense; it would be truer to say that "imagery is power." The entire political situation in Pakistan was recently changed, thanks to a home video of a very young woman being held down and ritually beaten by bearded Taliban, in Swat, for the crime of being in the company of a man not her male guardian. The screams of that girl somehow galvanized a significant part of Pakistani opinion to demand that their government stop retreating. Likewise, the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan in Tehran -- picked off in the street by a plainclothed gunman of the regime's unspeakable Basiji, and shown to the world by video -- has galvanized the ayatollahs' opponents, everywhere. Imagery can of course be false; can be staged. But it is unlikely that either of the scenes I mention above were staged; and they communicate the truth of the situation far more eloquently than yet another speech by the American charlatan. And for that: thank you, cellphone technology.

Whooooops

clipped from pajamasmedia.com HMM: MPs ’snub’ Ahmadinejad poll party. “More than 180 Iranian MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election win, local press reports say. All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night, but only 105 turned up, the reports say. A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls.”

COTD: He Won't Go Against His Brothers

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Why is the US so limp in its response to the crisis? Well, I would ask you to reflect for a moment on the interesting parallels between the current regime in Iran and our own here in the US. Obama has, is and will always be campaigning/fighting for his political future and to remain in power and keep his party in power. He doesn’t want to have to be popular with the people, but he needs their support, and support has begun to wane. Similar to the mullahs and Ahmadinejad who are fighting to retain control in Iran, Obama will not hesitate to silence those who criticize or oppose him. Check the latest round of administration firings for your proof. Obama feels a strong bond to those in the struggle of the powerful over those who have granted them that power. Obama and his czars will continue to move to consolidate their power as the Imams have done, until that point when they can’t be challenged any longer. That is the dream of the powerful and power hungry in this world.

Hitch Reprise: Perfectly Stated

clipped from www.qando.net That last observation also applies to the Obama administration. Want to take a noninterventionist position? All right, then, take a noninterventionist position. This would mean not referring to Khamenei in fawning tones as the supreme leader and not calling Iran itself by the tyrannical title of “the Islamic republic.” But be aware that nothing will stop the theocrats from slandering you for interfering anyway. Also try to bear in mind that one day you will have to face the young Iranian democrats who risked their all in the battle and explain to them just what you were doing when they were being beaten and gassed. [emphasis mine]. For those of you who continue to miss this point, there it is, perfectly stated.

One Government Problem Creating Another One

clipped from www.youtube.com

Buffet: Shambles

clipped from www.cnbc.com How much progress do you think we've made in that war? BUFFETT:  Well, it's been pretty flat.  I get figures on 70-odd businesses, a lot of them daily.  Everything that I see about the economy is that we've had no bounce.  The financial system was really where the crisis was last September and October, and that's been surmounted and that's enormously important.   But in terms of the economy coming back, it takes a while.  There were a lot of excesses to be wrung out and that process is still underway and it looks to me like it will be underway for quite a while.  In the (Berkshire Hathaway) annual report I said the economy would be in a shambles this year and probably well beyond.  I'm afraid that's true. Taking a firm position in an ongoing debate in the financial markets, Buffett says he's not concerned about deflation, but thinks inflation will be a problem Buffett repeated his criticism of "cap and trade" as a method to control pollution, saying it would be a huge, regressive tax.

Misunderstood Again

clipped from www.washingtontimes.com In a lengthy sermon Friday that reaffirmed the disputed re-election of Mr. Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei made an oblique reference to a letter from the U.S. but embedded the reference in a diatribe against purported U.S. interference in Iranian affairs. "The American president was quoted as saying that he expected the people of Iran to take to the streets," Ayatollah Khamenei misquoted Mr. Obama as saying, according to a translation by Mideastwire.com.

Dead

clipped from www.realclearpolitics.com Here is the one immutable fact of President Barack Obama's foreign policy agenda as it relates to Iran: It's over. The rule book he came in with is as irrelevant as a tourist guide to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If the forces of reform and democracy win, Obama's plan to negotiate with the regime is moot, for the regime will be gone. And if the forces of reform are crushed into submission by the regime, Obama's plan is moot because the regime will still be there. Politics and decency will simply demand that the world condemn or shun the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei if they come out on top. Even the most soulless realists will be repulsed by the blood on the regime's collective hands.

Ze Drem

clipped from www.jslprofessionalservices.com There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Dupe Check

clipped from pajamasmedia.com A.P. FACT CHECK: Obama’s words about Iran get tougher. “President Barack Obama described himself on Tuesday as being ‘entirely consistent’ in his expressions of concern about the disputed Iranian election and the government crackdown that followed street protests. But his language clearly has gotten tougher since his first statement that the suppression of dissent was ‘of concern to me.’” Whenever Obama starts talking about his consistency, it’s a pretty safe bet he’s in the process of changing his position.

I O

clipped from pajamasmedia.com A couple of surprising words were missing from President Barack Obama’s 55-minute news conference on Wednesday: “Iraq” — and “Afghanistan.” Also MIA: “Korea,” “Pakistan,” “soldiers,” “surge” and “war” — as well as the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. How many times did the word “I” appear?

Jeff Goldberg On "Chamberlain" Cohen

clipped from jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com Andrew writes of Roger Cohen: He too saw this coming, and was vilified by the usual suspects for reaching for peace. If you want to read classic old media journalism by a reporter with passion and courage, his missive tonight is as good as it gets. Cohen proves the old media is not dead. May it rise again. On behalf of the "usual suspects," let me just say this: Roger Cohen in no way "saw this coming." In fact, he made a name for himself internationally as one of the leading Western apologists for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, arguing that the regime was substantially benign and that engagement with these murderers was practically a moral necessity. He saw nothing coming, nothing at all. He has even admitted as much. To his credit, last week he wrote: "I erred in underestimating the brutality and cynicism of a regime that understands the uses of ruthlessness."

Might Start Too Many People Thinking

clipped from pajamasmedia.com ANN ALTHOUSE TRANSLATES: “Excuse me. If I may be so bold. I hate to trouble you but…. I don’t mean to impose… I’m not at interfering… Far be it from me to suggest anything that you might be able to characterize as meddling. I’m no meddler. Not at all. I’m just over here, modestly deploring violence.” MORE: Reader Michael Tubergen writes: “I can’t help but wonder why the President couldn’t just read from the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. That pretty much says everything that needs to be said about the Iranian situation.” Might start too many people thinking.

The Three Rules Of Hope, Change And Plunder

clipped from www.qando.net Michale Barone, observing the Obama presidency as it unfolds, has penned his own “Three Rules of Obama”. Rule one: First, Obama likes to execute long-range strategies but suffers from cognitive dissonance when new facts render them inappropriate. Barone cites Obama’s long range strategy of conciliatory diplomacy with the likes of Iran and North Korea being “undercut by North Korea’s missile launches and demonstrations in Iran against the mullah regime’s apparent election fraud.” Second, he does not seem to care much about the details of policy. The “closing” of Guantanamo is perhaps the perfect example. Obviously politically satisfying at the time it was announced, its execution has been an absolute fiasco. None of the underlying problems of closing the prison had apparently been researched or considered when the promise was made. Third, he does business Chicago-style. “Transparency” and “openness” are now just a words Hope and change.

Good Luck With That

clipped from tigerhawk.blogspot.com Last week I stumbled across the following chart in a deck of slides from J.P. Morgan. It basically shows how much economic growth would be required to return the unemployment rate to "only" 6% -- recognizing that we had grown used to it being under 5% -- over the next one to three years, given a "starting" unemployment rate at the end of this year. It goes some distance to explaining in graphical terms why the Obama administration has thrown anything and everything into stimulating the current economy.

Man-cession

clipped from pajamasmedia.com A “man-cession.” That’s what some economists are starting to call it. Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men. Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan, characterizes the recession as a “downturn” for women but a “catastrophe” for men. Men are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis because they predominate in manufacturing and construction, the hardest-hit sectors, which have lost more than 3 million jobs since December 2007. Women, by contrast, are a majority in recession-resistant fields such as education and health care, which gained 588,000 jobs during the same period. Rescuing hundreds of thousands of unemployed crane operators, welders, production line managers, and machine setters was never going to be easy. But the concerted opposition of several powerful women’s groups has made it all but impossible. . . .

I Had Waited Thirty Years For This

clipped from niacblog.wordpress.com People gather and stop him. He’s furious, ‘Why should I not? They beat tiny girls! They beat everyone! Bastard!’ I shout at him, ‘But we’re not beasts! We’re not like them!’ Somebody takes the Basiji away as people curse him. I think, ‘But the bastard deserves it. To come out of your house in the morning, just to beat up people you don’t even know.’ I don’t recognize myself and my feelings anymore. You can get in any car to go back home. People trust one another now. The woman in the back seat sitting next to me says, ‘It’s no longer about Mousavi or election results. We have suffered for thirty years. We didn’t live a life.’ An old man next to her offers me fresh bread. They tell jokes about the political figures and laugh out loud. They feel victorious. ‘I had waited thirty years for this. Now I feel relieved.’ She writes down my phone number to send me news. ‘Send it to The Guardian!’, she says. I will. I promise.

Another snip from this RTWT.

Damn Me!

clipped from niacblog.wordpress.com If we want to go forward we need to pass through tear gas. So we ask a car to give us a lift. Then there is an attack. They cannot tell enemy from other people although they want to show everything is fine and they’re only after trouble-makers. There is a woman who is being beaten. She’s horrified and hysterical but not as much as the anti-riot police officer facing her. She shrieks, ‘Where can I go? You tell me go down the street and you beat me. Then you come up from the other side and beat me again. Where can I go?’ In sheer desperation, the officer hits his helmet several times hard with his baton. ‘Damn me! Damn me! What the hell do I know!’ I ask myself, ‘how much longer can these officers tolerate stress? How many among them would be willing to give their lives for somebody like Ahmadinejhad?’

RTWT.

The Triple Oxymoron

clipped from www.davidwarrenonline.com As Amir Taheri has put it, the opposition candidate who lost the rigged election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is just "a balloon that a section of the Iranian middle class inflated to show its anger not only at Ahmadinejad but also at the entire Khomeinist regime." They want "regime change." They do not want an amelioration, but an end, to the morality laws, the thugs who enforce them, the secret prisons, the international brinkmanship, the terror networks, and the rest of the regime's infrastructure of power. They explicitly want an end to the "Islamic Republic of Iran," which, as Taheri and others have long been explaining, is a triple oxymoron (it isn't Islamic in any orthodox sense, it isn't a Republic in any political sense, and it does not recognize Iran as a nation). President Reagan, who extracted more concessions from Soviet tyrants than all previous presidents combined, did not do so by making nice to them.

Cartoon Of The Day

clipped from gatewaypundit.blogspot.com

No Papers?

clipped from www.transterrestrial.com Complaints to Homeland Security higher ups about these “routine checks” were answered by spokeswoman Kelly Ivahnenko with a statement that said, and I accurately paraphrase, “we maintain we have this power and authority, you can expect we will continue to do it whenever and wherever we wish, and there is no requirement that we justify ourselves or explain our reasons.” This answer itself is, in my opinion, even more frightening than screaming gun-wielding agents. Capt. Vasili Borodin: I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck… maybe even a “recreational vehicle.” And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that? Captain Ramius: I suppose. Capt. Vasili Borodin: No papers? Captain Ramius: No papers.